Senate committee advances net‑metering rewrite after hours of technical debate

The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee voted to pass, as amended, legislation that would alter Arkansas' net‑metering rules, reduce the maximum eligible facility size and bar certain interruptible contracts from participating in retail net metering.

Mister Tinsley, an industry representative testifying for several manufacturing members, told the committee the companies that responded to his survey represent more than 5,500 Arkansas jobs and warned the bill would make large customer investment in self‑generation uneconomic. "The real purpose of this bill is to protect the utilities monopoly," he said, urging members to weigh how the measure would affect industrial recruitment and retention.

The bill's sponsors say the changes are needed to address cost shifting — the possibility that customers with distributed generation avoid charges that other ratepayers then must cover. Valerie Boyce, chief administrative law judge and chief of commissioner staff for the Arkansas Public Service Commission, told senators the PSC has an open…